Nadja Räss
Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts
About Nadja Räss
Nadja Räss was literally born singing. In her earliest childhood, she came into contact with Appenzell natural yodelling through relatives on her father’s side and yodelling was also omnipresent in her parents’ home. Nadja soon realised: “When I grow up, I’m going to be a yodeller. After graduating from Einsiedeln Abbey School, she studied classical singing at the Zurich University of the Arts and successfully completed her studies in 2005 with a Master’s degree in pedagogy. From 2012 to 2017, she was director of the cultural institution Klangwelt Toggenburg. Nadja Räss is a passionate singing teacher and passes on her knowledge in courses, individual lessons and, since autumn 2018, as a professor of yodelling at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. She is just as passionate about bringing new and traditional forms of Swiss yodelling to the stage with musicians such as Rita Gabriel Schaub, Markus Flückiger and Willi Valotti, as well as with the Alderbuebe ensemble. In projects with singers from other cultures, she enriches her artistic work and expands her voice with tonal facets. For example, in a trio with Outi Pulkkinen (Finland) and Mariana Sadovska (Ukraine). Nadja Räss can also be heard as a soloist in various projects, including the cantata ‘Dorothea’ and with the St. Gallen Symphony Orchestra. The sound of her voice can be heard on several recordings and Nadja Räss publishes specialised literature and music books on her pedagogical work. In 2014, her career and her constant creativity were honoured with a Prix Walo in the ‘Yodelling’ category and a year later in 2015 with the Culture Recognition Award of the Canton of Schwyz. In 2016, she was one of the nominees for the Swiss Music Prize of the Federal Office of Culture (BAK). In 2017, the canton of Schwyz provided her with a work grant for the ‘Stimmzeit’ project. In 2025 she was awarded the highest prize in Swiss folk music, the „Goldener Violinschlüssel”.